I have often spoke of how paying close attention to the lyrics and the story of a song have made me very fond of certain songs. Sometimes, however, the opposite can be true as well. A friend of mine asked me if I would sing a tune, he was fond of, at his anniversary. The song he wanted me to preform was called 'You Belong To Me'. It was written by Chilton Price and modified by Pee Wee King & Redd Stewart and was a story of two lovers separated by vast distances and one missing the other. I had never heard it before so I looked it up on YouTube and there it was. It seemed well written and had a very nice tune to it. It was only as I looked into the lyrics, a little closer, that I began to become a little concerned about the message within the song. Now a hundred people might listen to this song and all come out with different meanings but this is what I came out with. Basically, the singer is reminding his partner that she is NOT free to pursue her own choices because she has sworn her allegiance to him. (Pardon me if I assume that the singer is male. It could be the other way around.)

This is the one problem I have with marriage vows is that they are written as a contract by which one sells oneself into slavery to another. This form on contract is then enforced by nearly all religious orders, in the name of GOD. This is why, women, who find themselves in abusive relationships, have often felt obligated by their religions and societies to remain in that situation because that is what a GOOD woman is supposed to do. There is no moral way out for these women. Don't get me wrong! I'm not against marriage. I AM against abusive marriages enforced by society and when one spouse announces to the whole world that he or she OWNS his or her partner ('You Belong To Me'), THEN I get a little worried that something is very wrong with society.

You see what can happen when one reads deeply into the lyrics of a song? It's a lovely piece and I am sure that it was meant with all good intentions, but the message hidden within makes me somewhat uncomfortable, especially to sing at an anniversary. I recorded it, and attached it to an email to my friend. I told him that I could do it but I was not sure if it was a wise choice because of the reasons listed above. He opted not to ask me to do it. I stumbled across the recording today, and decided to include it in my selection to show that lyrics can hurt a song in unexpected ways. The artist that I heard perform it was Jason Wade. I think that he did the best version of this song, personally. Here is my cover version of 'You Belong To Me'.